Quick Hitter: When do Mets Consider Demoting Travis d’Arnaud?

After Friday night’s game in San Francisco, Mets’ catcher Travis d’Arnaud is now sporting a pathetic .180/.271/.273 slash line.

Yuck!

Ever since being the centerpiece in the trade for R.A. Dickey with the Toronto Blue Jays, we have been led to believe that d’Arnaud was one of the better, if not the best, catching prospects in baseball and that he would become a staple in the Mets lineup.

So, what gives?

Sure, injuries have slowed d’Arnaud’s development a great deal and the concussion he suffered in early May is nothing to scoff at. But, when do we objectively assess that d’Arnaud is not working out and send him down to the minors. After all, d’Arnaud has played in less than 100 games in Triple-A between the Toronto and New York organizations. So, perhaps more seasoning can do him some good since he did not spend much time in Las Vegas.

While we shouldn’t give up on d’Arnaud altogether, he simply looks over matched at the plate in the majors. After all, he has more strikeouts (25) than home runs, RBI’s and runs combined.

We have seen the Mets get decent production from Anthony Recker, and the team can certainly continue on without d’Arnaud for the time being. The Mets may give him a couple of more weeks to get it in gear. However, if he is not showing any signs of improvement prior to the all-star break, perhaps the Mets should finally send down d’Arnaud.

d’Arnaud is still young, so people should not give up hope just yet. Many players need additional time back down on the farm before really busting out. Scouts still love his talent and maybe at this moment, he is in a little over his head.

It wouldn’t be such a terrible idea to see if this approach can work with d’Arnaud. This way, maybe he can regain his confidence and come back to the majors a changed man.

If not, well the Mets will always have Kevin Plawecki to fall back on.

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” I got to be better than this,” d’Arnaud told reporters. “This is unacceptable to me.” Notice that he didn’t say ” I am”. It is apparent the young man is beginning to doubt his abilities.
On June 15th Taylor Teagarden has an opt out on his contract. Teagarden is not a solution but he does have major league experience. Anthony Recker is playing below his acceptable 2013 back up statistics and isn’t a solution either.
Even with unacceptable alternatives, d’Arnaud should be demoted to find his swing and get his confidence back. The demotion should occur before he is exposed to the boobirds of Citi Field. He is right, his performance is unacceptable on the major league level. I have not given up on TDA but it isn’t doing him any good to stay on the major league roster. He will eventually make it back.
This really gums up the works because Plawecki has earned a promotion to AAA. I would seriously discuss among the front office if he is ready for the majors now. If not, should TDA’s demotion be to AA? What a mess!

I don’t think we should be parsing words of a rookie likely going through one of the longest extended cold streaks of his life.

When Willie Mays was struggling as a rookie, his manager publicly declared he didn’t care what he hit, he was his CF. Perhaps TC could do that. Or they could send him out to take pressure off him that way.

What they don’t need to do is play him everyday and then bitch and moan about his production. They went down that path with Ike and they don’t need to do it again.

His offense is not good. Unfortunately, neither is his defense. Ok, he can frame, but after that, he doesn’t throw well or block well. But he is the Catcher and for better or worse he is going to go through the growing pains he should have had in AAA in the Bigs. Given that the rubber band of the season is stretching to the snap point, it’s not a huge loss. My worry is whether this approach to player development will do long term harm to his future. At this point, I agree with you Brian…he’s our guy.

If we were talking about any other MLB team organization, it would be interesting how the front office would resolve the current questions of the team. But this is the Mets of the Wilpon era, so don’t get your hopes up. Should C Young be cut; yes. Will he be…no. TDa should be shipped out to AAA; but won’t be. Smoke and mirrors and bandages is all we will get from this floundering team and organization.

I would think Plawecki will be stalled at AA until d’Arnaud regains his swing and confidence. I bet the Met front office believes it will be within 3-4 weeks like Ike Davis’ 21 games in 2013. As I said before, what a mess!

Part of the problem is that the AAA club is in Vegas. Hitting stats get inflated and pitching stats take a hit. It makes it difficult to evaluate a player under those conditions. Thank you jeffy wilpon!

Good point Norme, but right now TDA needs all the confidence boosting he can get. So let Las Vegas bloat his numbers for a little while. He’s not coming back up after a cup of coffee down there anyway.